Overseas payments or transfers by debit, credit or prepaid cards are allowed up to 5,000 euros per month per person per bank.

The same goes for comparable amounts overseas by debit, credit or prepaid cards.

“Other payments or transfer of funds require the prior approval of the committee, taking into account the liquidity buffer situation of each credit institution in question.”

It won’t “be possible to prematurely break fixed-term deposits unless the funds are used to repay a loan within the same bank.”

As long as capital controls remain, when fixed deposits mature, depositors “will only have access to either 5,000 euros or 10 per cent of the total, depending which is higher.”

They’re required to “put that amount either in a current account or a new fixed-term deposit in the same bank, depending on his (or her) choice.” Residual amounts will be kept in the original deposit an extra month.

Financial transactions, payments or transfers not finalized before controls were instituted are subject to the same restrictions.

Banks are warned not to “execute cashless transfers that facilitate the circumvention of the restrictive measures.” They apply to all accounts, payments and transfers regardless of currency.

He came home end of January. He helped President Nicos Anastasiades’ campaign. He didn’t expect what happened.

The way Eurocrats treated Cyprus “shows that far from the currency bloc acting as a partnership of equals, it is a disjointed group of countries where the national interests of the big nations stand higher than the interests of the whole.”

“Meanwhile, the haphazard decision-making in the eurogroup continues.” It reached “a new low.”

It “casts serious doubts on the ability of this group to make the decisions to push Europe forward to financial stability and economic growth.”

Nicosia looks “eerie.” Streets are deserted. People are glued to television for late news. “There is total desperation. The smiles have gone. Nothing like this ever happened before.”

“The future is indeed bleak. It is not clear what is coming next and from where.”

The Daily Telegraph’s international business editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, headlined “Cyprus has finally killed myth that EMU (EU Economic and Monetary Union) is benign.”

“The punishment regime imposed on Cyprus is a trick against everybody involved in this squalid saga, against the Cypriot people and the German people, against savers and creditors. All are being deceived.”

It’s not a bailout. Cyprus gets no debt relief. A potential “economic death spiral” looms.

Capital controls “shattered” EMU monetary unity. “A Cypriot euro is no longer a core euro. We wait to hear the first stories of shops across Europe refusing to accept euro notes issued by Cyprus, with a G in the serial number.”

They “sacrifice(d) the (EU’s) single market principle according to which capital controls are” verboten.

The ugliest part of the deal exposes the illusion of “genuine Eurozone-wide banking union.” Dijsselbloem said so in no uncertain terms.

“The combination of (a) the denial of the need to effect public debt consolidation, (b) the derailing of a meaningful banking union and (c) the heavy-handedness with which Cyprus was treated over the past week, spell a new, uglier, state of affairs in Europe.”

“I would not be surprised” if what happened doesn’t reflect “a major turning point.” It may become “the moment in history when Europe moved beyond the pale.”

It might have been worse. Cyprus state broadcaster CyBC said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed a 40% haircut on all deposits.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde concurred. On March 26, Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said large uninsured Laiki Bank depositors could lose up to 80% of their money.

“Realistically,” he added, “very little will be returned.”

Euro expert Bernard Connolly looks prescient. Before its introduction, he predicted the euro’s failure. He called it a hairbrained idea doomed to fail.

He said one or more of Europe’s weakest countries would face rising deficits, troubled economies, and a “downward spiral from which there is no escape unaided. When that happens, the country concerned will be faced with a risk of sovereign default.”

It only remains for it to happen. Expect perhaps eventual EMU collapse.

Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967. He remained there until retiring at year end 1999. Writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.

About Stephen

Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business in 1967.